Monthly Archive for October, 2014

Are you tired of using the same old plain backgrounds in your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations? Well now there is a way where you can use your own captured images to great effect as custom backgrounds in your slides.

In this Microsoft PowerPoint tip, I will explain how you can use a photo to its maximum potential as a background and edit it without the need for expensive photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop, using a simple PowerPoint tool for instant effective results.

To begin, follow these simple steps:

Display the slide or the slide master.

Insert a photograph by going to Insert and select Picture. Here you can choose to use a digital photo that you took yourself or any other image that you have saved on your machine. If, however you choose to use an image from the Clip Art collection, go to Insert and select Clip Art.

With the photo selected, resize it or use the Crop button on the end of the Picture Format toolbar to crop it so that it fits the slide.

With the picture still selected, select the Recolor option and select Washout from the options available, as you see here encircled.

Your image will now be lighter meaning that your text will now show above it clearly. There you have it; your image will now serve as the perfect background to your slides.

If you think that the image is too light/dark, just use the Brightness & Contrast controls until you have it to your liking.